Christy Clark, BC Premier, stated that she was optimistic about a future agreement regarding the softwood lumber trade between Canada and the US. She added that she hopes that the new deal would solve the existing trade conflict, according to the Globe and Mail.
Starting October 2016, the US forestry has an opportunity to start a new trade conflict over the Canadian softwood lumber imports. Last year, BC sent $3.3 billion worth of softwood lumber, but once with the expiry of the 2006 SLA, the two countries now have a one year standstill during which the US can’t impose any new tariffs over the Canadian softwood lumber imports.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama met on the 10th of March at the White House and discussed about new possibilities to the expired SLA. The two officials told the Ministers of Trade of the two countries to find a solution and present it in the next 100 days from the meeting.
As Clark said, that was “fantastic news. British Columbians have worked really hard to make sure the softwood lumber agreement was on the Prime Minister’s agenda, and he listened. Now, there is a lot of work to be done between now and then, but I know you can’t get to the end of something unless you start. So this is a good start – let’s get going, we need to protect those jobs in British Columbia.”
As the Globe and Mail reported, despite the fact that BC’s exports to the US have declined in the last years, this trade is still very important at it directly implies more than 60,000 people and their jobs. During this one-year standstill, Canada was asked to put a certain tax on exports if the softwood lumber prices happened to decline below the predetermined threshold.
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